this campaign is not just about a name on a ballot. it's about saving the soul of america. and it's driven by an unshakable optimism that lies within the heart of every american citizen. we know our future is brighter and better than these troubled times. we have been knocked down, tested, but we don't accept an america like this has limited. we know america is the land of opportunity. we still get up every morning and thank god we're americans. and we know -- [ applause ] >> usa! u usa! usa! u usa! >> we also know with hard work and with strong leadership, with a president that will tell the truth, with a president that will live with integrity, that our greatest days as a nation are ahead of us thanks to the american people. and tonight, we have taken one

more step towards restoring the promise of tomorrow. tomorrow, we wake up and we start again. and the next day, we'll do the same. and so will go day by day, step by step, door by door, heart to heart. there will be good days, there will be bad days. always long hours. never enough time to get everything done. but on november 6th, we're going to stand united. not only having won an election, but having saved a future. it's time -- it's time to believe in ourselves. it's time to believe in ourselves. it's time to believe in america. and i'm asking you to join our cause. we need your energy and your conviction and your commitment. i'm asking for your to pledge your support at mittromney.com. get online. we need your voice and your vote in this campaign. and i'm asking you to join in the fight for our freedom. and insure that tomorrow will be

better than today. let's go forward today. and restore the promise of america together. let's fight for the america we love. thank you, and god bless this great land. god bless the united states of america! thanks, you guys. >> all right, there you have it. mitt romney speaking before his supporters in massachusetts. the state he easily carried. he's also carried vermont and virginia. three states for mitt romney. two so far for santorum. he takes oklahoma, tennessee. one for newt gingrich in georgia. we're watching two more states, the polls have just closed in idaho and north dakota. so far, we are not able to make a projection in idaho and north dakota, but look at ohio. look how close it is right now. 59% of the vote in, santorum slightly ahead of mitt romney. 38% to 36%. santorum with 254,757.

romney, 254,739. santorum just slightly more than 10,000 votes ahead. gingrich and paul significantly behind. but you know, we're going to watch ohio very, very closely. look what is going on in north dakota right now. 73% of the vote in. santorum is ahead in north dakota as well. 39%. ron paul is second with 28%. mitt romney, third. 25%. newt gingrich, 8%. a small number of people participated in the caucuses in north dakota. 75% of the numbers in. santorum ahead in north dakota. i want to focus in on ohio right now. you know, if romney loses the popular vote in ohio, he might still win the delegate count because santorum didn't get on the ballots in some of the congressional districts. bad performance on his staff's part, but as he luoses the race

in ohio, this race is going on and on and on. >> the race is going on anyway. it's the on and on part that gets interesting if that stays purple. santorum is purple. romney is the deeper red. newt gingrich has won georgia. georgia and south dakota. we don't expect gingrich to win anywhere else tonight. the question is is he a regional southern candidate? when you look at this, look at the state. after winning michigan, governor romney thought i can come back in ohio. this is an incredibly close race. 10,764 votes. can romney make it up? yes, but the window is very tight. why is the answer yes? look up here, the biggest county in the state, only 41% of the precinct's in, and that's a 7,000 vote lead. as the vote grows, if the margin stays the same, there's several,ntd votes for governor romney in that county alone. it is doable, but that margin has to stick. it also has to come in a big

margin like this in hamilton county. this jumped from 6% to 40% in the last 10 or 15 minutes. romney, the edge, a little over 4,000 votes. he needs that to double. if you get up to 100%, it's a margin. it is doable if he keeps the votes coming in the populated areas. lucas county, a romney lead, not as big, but only 30% of the vote in. if he can keep the lead in this county if it matches up and gets to 100%, it's nearly 100 votes or there. the potential is there. >> what about columbus, the state capital? >> about half the vote in. about a 2,000-vote difference right now at 50%. if the margin stays exactly the same and this is precincts, not necessarily vote counts, but if you double it, could be, emphasis on could be, a coup couple,ncouple couple,thousand votes for romney. you look over here, 100% of the vote is in, over here, 79% of

the vote here. santorum will get additional voes, but it's not as populated. we can look at it by population. if you want to look at the population of the state. the thicker the lines, the thicker the area, the higher the population. in the thick population centers, that's dark red. governor romney is winning in the population centers at the moment which is wi as the rest of the vote comes in, he has a chance. but it's 12,000 votes. we're up to 60% of the vote. not much room for error. definitely hamilton county is key for governor romney. the corners of the state, the southwest corner, the northeast corner is going to be critical. i want to pull out because you mentioned north dakota. look at this in the middle of the country. this is santorum's argument. he won colorado, oklahoma, started in ohio. missouri was a beauty contest. minnesota, north dakota, 78% of the vote in. romney running third. that was a disappointment for ron paul in another caucus state

here. if you look at the map, you have two for gingrich here, the northeast and virginia, the o organizational failure to get on the ballt could be a big legacy in the race. we have to wait for idaho, alaska, and we'll keep counting in ohio. >> stand by because we have another important piece of news to report to our viewers right now. cnn projects that rick santorum will win north dakota caucus. you can see it right here. north dakota caucuses close at the top of the hour. 28 delegates at stake. a third win for rick santorum tonight. he earlier won tennessee, earlier won oklahoma. now north dakota. mitt romney earlier won vermont, his home state of massachusetts, and virginia where only he and ron paul were on the ballot. gingrich won in georgia. we're waiting for idaho and alaska. north dakota finally, we have

made the projection, north dakota, rick santorum wins. so it's three wins so far for santorum. three wins right now for mitt romney. but we're going to be waiting for ohio. right now, santorum, santorum has a slight lead in ohio right now. but it could be the tiebreaker, a very significant tiebreaker in ohio right now. i want to go to dana bash in cincinnati, hamilton county in ohio. tell our viewers what's going on over there because this race is really tight. santorum slightly ahead. >> this race is really tight. he's slightly ahead on the state level, but here in very, very important hamilton county, he's not. with about half of the votes in to hamilton county, mitt romney is winning by about 3,700 votes. he's got 46%, and rick santorum has about 35%.

so mitt romney is doing well here. however, i will tell you they're waiting for a very -- if we're getting specific and in the weeds, this is interesting. anderson township, that's a very important town that they're waiting for. it's also a place with a lot of tea party voters and probably a big voting area for rick santorum. we're watching that closely. i want to take you over here. this is where it's acdhael happening. this is where the folks here at the election center are counting the votes. they're getting actual cards in and they're putting them in card readers and it's sending the information into the computer system to give us a sense of where the votes are from specific precincts. i mentioned to you earlier there will be trucks that will come here and physically bring the ballots from across the county, and that happened. i think we have video. some trucks and cars. even for a crusty reporter like me, it was cool to see that democracy in action. old fashioned democracy in action to see people pulling the

ballots off the trucks and putting them into the bins and bringing them up here and watching them count them. some electronic, but still, it's pretty old fashioned. >> thanks very much. we'll stay on top of that. hamilton, which is cincinnati, an important part of the state indeed. it's interesting. i want you to explain to the viewers, john, even if santorum were to win the popular vote in ohio, romney could wind up getting more of the delegates of ohio. >> delegates are awarded in several ways. first, state-wide. proportionalty, unless somebody gets 50%, nobody is going to get 50%. we're safe in saying that. then there are district delegates. let me sneak over here, grab the ohio map. this is ohio divided. it's hard to see the districts in the cleveland area. but if you look at the other black lines within, this is ohio divided by all its congressional dwiths. a bunch of them are umhere in

the cleveland, akron area, filled in in romney red. you see the exclamation points. these are places where santorum had defish aenlss. he does not have any delegates in those congressional districts or he can't get all of the delegates in the dwiths because they didn't meet the filing deadlines. the santorum campaign said we were struggling, we didn't have the organization money, the resources. he won tennessee, perhaps he could have won in virginia. leaving delegates on the table. and even if he wins in ohio, santorum will leave delegates on the table because you see him doing well in this district. he won't get all of the delegates because of his filing defish aenciencie deficiencies. santorum doing well in this district, carrying all of the counties at this point. and in this district up here, which is much more competitive, some romney counties, some santorum counties, he could lose

up. up here where he has issues, it looks like romney would carry that. it's likely looking at this map that you're going to have a close race either way, whether santorum holds on to the lead or romney can eke out a victory in ohio. romney is likely to get more delegates than senator santorum because of the filing and organizational deficiency. i want to put this over here to look at the state one more time, come out and come back in, purple at the moment. he won tennessee, won oklahoma, won north dakota. adding that to the four states he had won previously, this is the biggest prize of the night, and at the moment, again, 64% of the vote in. look at that right there, 12,000 votes. that margin has been staying as the overall percentage goes up, which spells trouble for romney. but can he get half of the votes? there are a couple thousand votes he could get there, and then cleveland and summit county, around akron, but if

romney is going to come back, he has to do it pretty quick and in populated areas. >> more and more difficult as the percentages go up. here is what we have so far, three wins for romney in virginia, vermont, and massachusetts. three wins for santorum, tennessee, north dakota, and oklahoma. one win for newt gingrich. three more states still outstanding, especially ohio. we're going to continue our coverage. much more coming up from the cnn election center right after this. [ todd ] hello? hello todd. just calling to let you know i'm giving you the silent treatment. so you're calling to tell me you're giving me the silent treatment? ummm, yeah. jen, this is like the eighth time you've called... no, it's fine, my family has free unlimited mobile-to-any-mobile minutes -- i can call all i want. i don't think you understand how the silent treatment works.

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nice win for rick santorum

in north dakota. he's doing well. won three states, he's won north dakota, won tennessee, won oklahoma. three states so far for mitt romney, vermont, virginia, and massachusetts. gingrich wins one. you can see what's going on. we're still waiting for ohio, waiting for idaho. they closed the caucuses in ohio just a while ago. this is the key state, ohio. rick santorum maintaining his lead, about 14,000 right now. 289,000 plus for santorum to 275,000 for mitt romney. 38% to 36%. 15% for gingrich, 9% for paul. look at idaho. nie 5% of the vote is in. but romney has a significant lead in idaho. 76% there. ron paul and santorum tied for second with 10%. 4% for gingrich in idaho. it's a very, very close in ohio.

we're watching it very, very closely. a lot of people are wondering if this goes on and on and on, could it actually going all the way until the end of august when the republicans will convene their convention in tampa? tonight, tom foreman is taking us on a virtual convention to give us a sense of how the delegate count may play out. >> earlier, we looked at the array of forces, of delegates for each candidates here in our virtual convention floor in tampa. it's easy to see how mitt romney was leading in the delegate count before tonight's votes came in and still far from establishing an insurmountable lead. now let's see how the battlefield is changing this evening. remember, at the end of the night, the delegates are all that matters, and even though it's complicated to figure out precisely how many each candidate is picking up, we can

say with confidence this is one of the bigger nights for newt gingrich. we added his new delegates on the left. santorum is adding some, too. he's in the middle with purple. and wins including tennessee and oklahoma, we'll show more for him in that section soonl. ron paul picks up a few on the right, but look at mitt romney. expanding his lead, trying to grind down his opponents by picking up another hole block of seats. in short, the few from the podium at our virtual convention is changing rapidly, but so far, we still don't have an answer. is this party headed for a coronation of a clear favorite in tampa or a confrontation between two or more contenders with legitimate claims to the nomination on this floor? >> tom foreman with our look at the virtual republican convention in tampa. let's show you what's going on.

going to idaho. 6% of the vote is in. mitt romney has a significant lead so far in idaho. 1,184 votes. only 160 for ron paul. 149 for santorum. 59 for newt gingrich. romney with 6% of the vote in doing well in idaho. in ohio, look at this. 70% now in, and santorum's lead is actually growing. it's more than 15,000 right now. 305,850 for santorum. 290,848 for romney. 38% to 36%. it's a significant santorum lead. only 30% of the precincts outstanding so far. we'll see if romney can overcome that 15,000-vote deficit. it's going to be increasingly difficult for romney to do so. we'll check back in ohio in a moment. i want to go to idaho right now where shannon traves is standing by in boise with more. you have a huge crowd there, shannon, behind you. where are you right now?

tell us what's going on. >> right now, we're in the taco bell arena at boise state university. we were expecting this to kick off a little over an hour ago, but it's just starting now. to your point about huge, you can't get much bigger than this. i'm going to have our photo journalist pan the crowd. organizers are telling us, get this, 9,000 people in this arena. the arena itself, we're told, sits between 10,000 and 12,000 people. they're saying they have 9,000 so far. some of the organizers are wondering if this was the largest caucus so far of the season. we'll try to check those numbers and verify, but let's talk about the process. you'll probably notice behind me, there's a line of people. these caucusgoers are lining up and are going to go behind the black curtain. we're going to zoom in. this guy, you might notice a white bucket. each of them are getting a coin. they're not writing anything down. they're taking the coin that they're getting from that person

there and dropping it in a bucket, very varto the bucket that the man has right there. each one of the buckets, four buckets, has a candidate's name on it, mitt romney, rick santorum, "nancy grace." a newt gingrich, and ron paul. it looks like this, this isn't the exact coin, but it's similar to this. they cast their coins into the buckets, and then from there, the buckets going up that stage, up those stairs where we have a camera train on the coin counters, we'll call them, the vote counters, and cnn is the only one to have a camera watching exclusively. we'll be watching that. i talked to a producer to see how long it would take. he said he hopes all 9,000 of the people, they hope they can get the votes finished in 45 minutes. >> romney doing well in idaho. stand by, shannon. we'll get back to you.

i want to update the viewers on ohio. these are the latest official numbers from ohio. 70% in ohio, now in, santorum maintaining a 15,000-plus lead over romney. if santorum wins the popular vote in ohio, it's a major setback for romney. we'll go back, check the situation in ohio. john kung is taking a close look at the counties. can mitt romney overcome the 15,000-vote deficit with 30% of the vote outstanding. stand by. we'll be right back. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds )

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the priceline negotiator went down in that fiery bus crash. yes i was. we lost a beautiful man that day. but we gained the knowledge that priceline has thousands and thousands of hotels on sale every day. so i can choose the perfect one for me without bidding. is it hard for you to think back to that day? oh my, this one has an infinity pool. i love those they just... and then drop off, kinda like the negotiator. three wins for romney, three wins for santorum. one wing for gingrich.

let's take a look at ohio, take a look at the voting. 72% of the vote is now in. santorum still ahead by almost 15,000 votes. 38% to 36%. gingrich and ron paul, third and fourth. let's go to john king rights now, taking a closer look at ohio. a lot of people are asking, a asking whether or not there are enough votes out there to make up the 15,000 deficit. hold the thought because i'm told dana bash is in cincinnati. she's got new votes coming in. john, pay attention to this because these numbers are first being reported here, dana. tell us what you have. >> that's right. this very important county, hamilton county, 80% reporting. romney is up here by about 10,000 votes. he's got 27,807. santorum has 17,267. so romney has about 48% of the votes, and rick santorum has about 29%.

so there you see why i'm sure that we and other news organizations are not calling ohio. because this shows that mitt romney is doing well in this very, very important state, and they're still waiting for important townships in this county to come in. but you know, certainly defies the broader picture of the state of ohio. >> that's going to be a net plus of 6,000 votes for romney if you take a look. the 15,000 advantage that santorum had is going to go down by 6,000 if you take a look at these numbers coming in from hamilton county. >> you can't do the direct math because this lead is factored in, but that's about the right math, 6,000 roughly. that's one county. that gets us up to 80%. more votes, presumably, more votes. so let's stretch the map back out. can he get elsewhere what he just got in hamilton county. will they give him a big jump?

the answer is yes, but a thin needle to thread. where can he get them? he can get them in stark county. just 43% of the vote in. you see a romney lead. again, 43%, he's got the lead. if these margins hold up and that goes up, the rest of the vote comes in, you could see a couple thousand votes for romney. akron, summit county, 89%. that's a place where romney is leading. but that number was smaller a minute ago. now that it's up to 89%, smaller room to make up. this is it, the rest of the vote in hamilton county, and the vote in kuyahoga, a big romney lead. he leads, you see the 7,000 vote difference, at 41%, if he get another 6,000 or 7,000 or 8,000, that's where you could make up the difference. otherwise, if you go around the lake, 100% of the vote is in there, 1p00% of the vote is in here, so we're starting to run out of places essentially for

mitt romney to make up the difference. here is another key place to look, franklin county, a more populous area. a quarter of the vote to come in. romney could pick up a couple hunderate voedz hetes here, may thousand, but he's trying to thread a very thin needle. he needs hamilton county, franklin county, and summit and stark as well as the coy ahogua county. 41%, romney depending right now on the largest metropolitan area of ohio to make up a big difference. again, senator santorum had filing issues, organizational issues, so rom gnaw is going to get more delegates out of the state of ohio no matter what happens. >> but the bragging rights. >> the moral power of that state being purple on the map tomorrow for santorum would be remarkable, to make the argument that shurp, mitt romney will have more delegates at the end of tonight, we know that. for rick santorum to wake up and say look at the middle of

america, look at this huge, no republican has won the white house in modern history without winning the state of ohio. psychologically, if he won ohio, it's a different race. >> and they didn't spend much money in ohio. the romney folks spend a lot of money. it's going to be a significant embarrassment if they can't capture the vote. >> a quick break. much, much more after this. this at&t 4g network is fast. hey, heard any updates on the game? i think it's final seconds, ohh, down by two, shoots a three, game over. so two seconds ago... hey mr. and mrs. harris, where's kevin?

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welcome back to our continuing coverage. what a night in ohio. take a look at the numbers. rick santorum, the lead is shrinking. rick santorum with 78% of the vote in. he has 336,000 votes. just 6,856 votes ahead of mitt romney, who has 37%.

newt gingrich at 15%, ron paul at 9%. a very tightening of the race, but again, it's too close to call at this point. jim acosta threw a question to rick santorum just moments ago on the rope line, asking him what a win in ohio would mean for rick santorum. here's the answer. >> senator santorum, what happened if you win ohio, what happens to the race, do you think? >> we feel great. that's all i can say, we feel great. we're in this race. and we're in it to stay. >> and that means all the way to the convention if necessary? >> to our panel here, contributors and analysts. what do you make of this? if you were in the romney camp tonight, donna brazile, how do you look at the numbers so far? >> i think the biggest issue for romney is he can't seal the deal. he can't seal the deal with self-described conservatives. he's having trouble with

independents. and of course, he's still uninspiring to young people. mitt romney's problem is he can't put together the coalition to put it together. >> and among evangelicals. >> i haven't looked on them, prayed on them yet. >> he's praying on them. >> this is a scary night for mitt romney. santorum is going to be able to look him in the eye tomorrow and say you outspent me to three to one in tennessee, four to one in ohio, and in 90 of 95 counties in tennessee, i beat you, and in ohio, we don't know. this is getting scary close for romney. this a near-death experience. >> near death? >> near death experience. what may happen is mitt romney has the strategy we're going to crush my opponents with more message, more media, more manpower in the states. he's not winning them, he's making the opponents lose. we may see that coming to an end. the candidates are getting known on their own. the negative ads may be having

less effect. he may have to win more races as opposed to making his opponents lose. >> we come here, every week, this is the week he'll close the deal. if he was as bad closing thestr be homeless. it's not the campaign. he's got good people, the biggest super pac of them all, good ads. he's adjust not very good at this. he's just not that talented a paul tishz. >> a little longer term perspective here. compared to iowa, this could be a landslide tonight. what is fascinating is you might have a switch between michigan and ohio. in michigan, romney won the popular vote and then santorum said, but i won the delegates. that didn't hold up, but it was true, a 50/50 split for a moment. ohio, switch it. you could have mitt romney win the delegates but santorum win the popular vote. everybody is going to say rick santorum won ohio. but if you're romney, again,

back to basics. he's winning the delegates, and that's the grind. it's taken longer than i think anyone in romney world wanted it to go, but that's the way it goes. >> even after spending all that money, it's a good win? >> no, you don't want to spebd your money, but as long as you have money to spend, you can spend it. >> but look what he has coming up, alabama, arkansas, maryland, kentucky. those are not romney-friendly states right now unless he can kick his campaign up from just a campaign to that cause. >> he's already spending a lot of money, you're hearing, in mississippi. >> he's spend $3 million in mississippi, alabama, and the only people who spentd money is gingrich. he's carpet bombing these states, but to little effect. >> under ohio law, i hate to bring up a recount -- >> please, feel free. >> but -- well, didn't i tell

you. leave me alone. under ohio law, recount can commence one of two ways. by application or when the margin of victory is small. an automatic recount. this is florida. this is possibly florida again tonight. >> oh, my god. >> right now, i should say it's 5,601 votes. back up to 6,055 votes. >> the delegate count avide, but i think airy is right. when you look at romney's performance this entire evening, where would vito say he's underperformed. he won in virginia. but he beat -- he was only running against ron paul. i would argue that beating ron paul by, what, however? he should have beat ron paul by more than he did in virginia. in tennessee, he lost to santorum by ten points. oklahoma, six points. i have been surroukrounding wit republican strategists who say when you look at tennessee, it's a good way to look at romney's

weaknesses. it's a southern state but not the deep south. there's a lot of urban areas that consider themselves kind of moderate. they elect senators like bill frist and bob corker, and so therefore, therefore -- right, fred thompson. therefore, romney should have done better in the state of tennessee. they're not saying he should have won tennessee, but he shouldn't have lost it to santorum by ten points. it's less idealogical, less evangelical. although it is evangelical, i think. 7 of 10 voters maybe. >> i think you're absolutely right. >> more establishment. if you look at that and say, okay, what is romney's problem? he's not connecting. he's not even connecting to the people he should be connecting to. >> donna, north dakota, you're saying. >> he lost north dakota in twoub 8. he beat john mccain with 38% of the vote, and tonight, santorum

wynn in north dakota. surprising to me, a caucus state, but romney carried it four years ago. >> he still may win ohio. let's wait, but i do think there are two things going on. one is the weakness of the candidate because this is a weak field. who could have imagined you would have a hard time putting away rick santorum in ohio or newt gingrich at this stage of the campaign? so that speaks to the weakness of candidate. but there's one other thing. his party has changed a lot. 20 years ago, 10 years ago, mitt romney would have been a good candidate within the republican establishment field. today, this is a much more conservative party than it was. and i think it's much, much harder for mitt romney to succeed in that kind of environment. >> we have talked so much about money and how important money is and we have demonized how money can win an election. money so far has not bought the easy wins you could expect them

to beat. romney spent 5 times what gingrich and santorum spent combined. you're looking at more than four times. since all states combined, just the campaign to campaign, mitt romney to rick santorum, eight to one. and i think that's kind of incredible. it's this throw-away comment, you can buy an election. actually, at least so far, it has not been that easy. it's been a really expensive one. >> as i think alex was saying, people feel like they know the candidates. they have seen them in the debates. >> and that's only going to increase. >> if you're rick santorum, he's got to be kicking himself. he's got to be saying, if i had said it differently, if i didn't go so far, i would have had a nicer win in ohio, and it would have been such a different race. he made a mistake, and he's still digging out. >> he should have fielded a full slate of delegates. all he needed was three

delegates in each congressional district. he couldn't get on the ballot in virginia where he lived for a decade. santorum has performed as a person far better than romney. romney's campaign is far better than santorum's. >> there was a great romney speech tonight. unfortunately, it was given by ann romney. it was terrific. but you see the difference in these candidates. old school, new school. >> let's go to wolf. >> let's take a look at ohio because it's narrowed. that gap, that rick santorum gap has now closed. only 2,570 votes ahead of mitt romney. it's tied, 37% for santorum. 37% for mitt romney. 358,742 for santorum. 356,172 for romney. only 2500 votes separate the two. only a little while ago, santorum had a 15,000-vote advantage. it's narrowed now to 2,570. this race is not over with.

84% of the vote is now in. 16% still to go. anything is still possible. stay with us. you're watching our election coverage from the cnn election center. [ male announcer ] the cadillac cts sport sedan was designed with near-perfect weight balance from front to back... and back to front. ♪ giving you exceptional control from left to right... and right to left. ♪ the cadillac cts. ♪ we don't just make luxury cars.

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home protector plus from liberty mutual insurance, where the cost to both repair your home and replace what's inside are covered. to learn more, visit us today. rick santorum's lead in ohio has dramatically narrowed right now. under 3,000 votes, but guess what? we have exclusive new information coming into cnn from hamilton county in cincinnati. dana bash is there. tell us what is going on in hamilton county, the latest tally. >> this is big news for mitt romney. we have amy here. and she's going to tell us what the numbers are again. >> yeah, so now with over 99% reporting from hamilton county, we now have mitt romney with 49%

of the vote. and rick santorum with 29% of the vote. we're looking at 38,116 to romney. 22,788 for santorum. >> a big lead right now. >> big lead. >> and let me give you the number again. i know we're being asked to give it again. the total raw numbers here. mitt romney, 38,116. rick santorum, 22,785. so -- >> dana, let me interrupt. i'm here with john. john, if this holds, that puts santorum second, romney ahead state-wide. >> that's just shy of 16,000 votes right there. and we had it at 10,000 votes. there's a net plus of 6,000 votes for romney right there. the gap was 2,700 coming into the conversation. that would put romney ahead. that would put romney ahead. i'm going to turn off the telestrator and come out. this is where we are in the

official count right now. >> it would put him ahead by about 3,000 votes. >> and then you look, is there any place rick santorum can win. he is winning in fairfield county. santorum could pick up votes here. i'm going to tap some santorum votes. 100% of the vote in, 100% of the vote in, 100% of the vote in. in most of the places santorum is winning, we have 100% in or close to it. here is romney's extra bank, cuyahoga, a very big lead. if the numbers hold up, we'll give romney the votes to come back. by our count, cnn's exclusive numbers from there, pay no attention. romney would be ahead. >> this is now 99% in hamilton county. >> hamilton county, our numbers at 78%, we'll update this when i close the wall down for a second, but by this exclusive new number, romney is winning in the state, and there are a few

places where santorum is voting where you have votes out. i'm tapping random counties. here's a chance for santorum to pick up some of the votes here. in the big population centers, the big population centers, how many states have we seen where a lot of the map is purple for santorum, but romney in a place like summit county, 98% in. you see the lead. you drop down here, only 50% in stark county. romney ahead there. a chance for romney to pick up extra votes there. by our count, thanks to hamilton county, he's ahead and has a chance to build a bigger cushion. >> in cuyahoga county, you look at the significant lead for romney, the cleveland area, we still have more than half of the vote in that area to come in. presumably, if it matches the first half, that would be very good news for mitt romney. >> we need to see these are some precincts, they're not the same, but outside the suburbs, to the

east and west of cleveland are the kind of places where romney tends to perform better than santorum, and you see that if you pull out to the map. in the suburbs around cleveland, akron, cincinnati, romney is winning. toledo has been back and forth. looks county, santorum was ahead. in the areas, the dots, these are the cities, the major population centers. what about the map is unique? in all of the population centers, romney is ahead. this is where organization matters. santorum wins in the rural areas, romney wins in the suburbs. as you look at this, franklin county, romney ahead there. more votes to come in, but that should help romney. hamilton county numbers help him, and we're waiting to see what happens in cuyahoga county. i'm going to come back.

at the moment, this is still purple, but because of the new numbers, we have into cnn, this would now be red. this is a huge delegatewise, it won't make too much of a difference. romney is going to get more delegates, but he wants this to be romney red when we wake up tomorrow morning, and if the vote count continues, we might have it back that way in a bit. if you look at the map, you think santorum has to be winning the state, but look at the major population centers. and i'm wondering why the count is so slow in cuyahoga county. only 41 persh of the vote in. we have a ways to go as we try to figure this out. hamilton county, our system hasn't updated with the numbers we just got. you watch this fill in, i want to see where we are for the night. that one still in play. santorum. santorum, santorum. idaho, 12%. governor romney is ahead there.

he very much needs idaho. we're talking about the big state of ohio, but as this night goes on, one of the things we're learning in the race as it goes on and on and only, people say why is obama going to the dakotas, the smaller states, north dakota for santorum, idaho potentially for governor romney will matter in the delegate chase, and boy, oh, boy, we're almost to the finish line in ohio. >> almost to the finish line. bragging for cnn. we're the only network that has the latest numbers thanks to dana bash and hamilton county in cincinnati. let's update you on what we know and go to ohio first. let's bring it out where we're take agclose look at ohio. ohio closed at 7:30 p.m. eastern. look how close it is now. 85% of the vote in in ohio. santorum, a slightly, slightly ahead right now. but that was before the numbers in hamilton county were reported. these do not incleed those numbers that dana bash just shared with us. take a look at this.

see what is going on in ohio. let's go to oklahoma. oklahoma closed at 8:00 p.m. eastern. oklahoma, rick santorum wins in oklahoma. 91% of the vote is in. we projected oklahoma goes to rick santorum. let's take a look at tennessee as well. tennessee, another state at rick santorum won. they closed the polls at 8:00 p.m. eastern. 38% of the vote going for rick santorum. 28% for romney, 24% for gingrich, only 9% for paul. and idaho, let's take a look at idaho. they closed at 10:00 p.m. eastern. a little less than an hour ago. take a look at this. romney significantly ahead. only 12% of the vote in. 78% for romney, 11% for paul, 8% for santorum, gingrich, only 3%. shannon travis is there in boise, idaho. we're going to go there. we're watching ohio, what is going on in ohio. this is very close. by our estimate, at least right

now, mitt romney slightly ahead of santorum in ohio. but guess what? it's not over with yet. much more of the coverage right after this. [ male announcer ] this is lawn ranger -- eden prairie, minnesota.

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because you're a cnn viewer, you know this. you know that mitt romney right now is slightly ahead of rick

santorum in ohio. we have the numbers no one else has these numbers. it's a knockdown, dragout fight in ohio between santorum and romney. >> still up for grabs, which candidate is going to add to his win column tonight? find out. >> romney scoring wins in vermont, virginia, massachusetts. >> we're going to take your vote and take that victory all the way to the white house. >> santorum, claiming victory in tennessee, oklahoma, and north dakota. >> this was a big night. we have won in the west, the midwest, and the south. and we're ready to win across this country. >> republicans in ten states have their say. hundreds of delegates are being awarded tonight. will the gop field change in any big way once the super tuesday dust settles? this campaign isn't over. more than half of the states il